In Martha Stewart's world, a loser isn't fired. He's "asked to go home." He's bidden "goodbye." Advised he doesn't fit. And then he gets a cordial note. At least, that was how it was done on "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," which premiered Wednesday on NBC.

The biggest question surrounding this much-awaited reality show had been how Martha would dismiss each losing candidate her equivalent of the "you're fired" kiss-off made famous by Donald Trump with the original "Apprentice" edition.

On the Stewart "Apprentice," a 13-week televised job interview whose prize is a $250,000 position at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Stewart's farewell said a lot about the difference between her show and Trump's (which premieres for a fourth cycle Thursday night).

Throughout the hour, Stewart was businesslike but gracious. And the look of her series which was taped at her Manhattan corporate headquarters this summer is airy and bright, befitting the Martha Stewart Living style.

"I want you to have fun," she said up front, "but I also want you to succeed."

And when the moment of truth arrived, instead of the dark and forbidding boardroom where Trump lords over his candidates, Stewart held forth in a cheery conference room. Her lieutenants: daughter Alexis Stewart and Charles Koppelman, the company's chairman.

Then, having said goodbye to Jeff, a contentious creative director from New York, Martha penned a note that began, "Dear Jeffrey: I'm sorry that you are the first to go. Not to fail, but rather not to fully succeed."

For their first task, the 16 candidates were directed to a hot niche in the publishing business: children's literature.

Each of the two competing teams was assigned to update a classic fairy tale, making it more relevant to the modern child.